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Dale Nielsen


Senior Systems Administrator

Contact Information

Dale Nielsen
Avacoda, LLC
201 Suite 206
6 University Drive
Amherst, MA 01002
Telephone: (413) 549-7679
Fax: (413) 549-3960
Email: dale@avacoda.com
Web: http://www.avacoda.com

Technical Skills

Languages
C, shell (sh and csh), perl, python, java, awk, GNU make, Pascal, FORTRAN, APL, Basic, 6502 assembly language.

Operating Systems
UNIX (Solaris, SunOS, Linux, HP-UX, Digital UNIX, BSD), Windows, VMS, RSX

Server Applications
Berkley Internet Name Daemon (BIND), Washington University ftpd, Apache web server, TomCat servlet, jboss, Postfix, Sendmail, smtpd, Dovecot IMAP, Courier IMAP, inn news server, OpenLDAP, OpenSSH, RADIUS, Samba,

Tools
cops, cvs, logcheck, sudo, watcher

Network Services
DHCP, DNS, FTP, HTTP, IMAP, NFS, NIS, NNTP, NTP, POP3, SMTP, SSH


Recent Clients

Blade Logic, Lexington, Massachusetts
Channing Bete Company, South Deerfield, Massachusetts
Computer Net Works, North Andover, Massachusetts
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Les Indiennes, Germantown, New York
Nortel Networks, Billerica, Massachusetts
Primus Mason Inter-Ethnic Alliance, Springfield, Massachusetts
RadioVoodoo, Williamstown, Massachusetts
Shentel, Edinburg, Virginia
The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine
Whalley Computer, Southwick, Massachusetts
Wigitek Corporation, Amherst, Massachusetts
ZipLink Internet, Lowell, Massachusetts


Recent Projects

Data Center Operations Security and Systems Administration
Internet Service Provider Systems Administration
Bulk Electronic Mail Quota System
Clustered Web Site Production and Development System Administration
Community Internet Access Center
Small Company Firewall and Mail Server Administration
General Systems and Network Security Administration
Software Development Environment
Java JSP/EJB Based Web Portal
Product Package Installation and Startup

Project Summaries

Project: Data Center Operations Security and Systems Administration
Role: Senior Systems Administrator

Monitored security of internal systems and performed audit of user accounts.
Obtained, built, packaged, and installed open source security tools.
Created and installed procedure to automatically monitor system status.
Created and installed procedure to automatically check system security status.
Set up Solaris jumpstart server and customized the jumpstart procedure.
Set up anonymous ftp server.
Set up build environment for open source tools.
Acted as mentor for the systems administration group.

Project: Internet Service Provider Systems Administration
Role: Systems Administrator

Completed implementation of ISPman internet service provider management software proving administrative access to RADIUS, HTTP, IMAP, and FTP services using a common LDAP server.
Upgraded OpenLDAP server software
Installed Postfix SMTP server with TLS support to provide authenticated email relay services for dialup customers.
Customized POP before SMTP functionality for providing email relay services for dialup customers.

Project: Bulk Electronic Mail Quota System
Role: Software Developer

Researched methods and techniques used by senders of unsolicited bulk email and existing mechanisms available for controlling them.
Designed and implemented system for maintaining a database containing RADIUS accounting information in order to identify dialup users by IP address in real time.
Designed and implemented system for creating and enforcing email message quotas for outgoing messages using sendmail.
Created initial prototypes as C programs using the MySQL database running on Linux.
Implemented production version as C programs using the Oracle database running on Solaris.

Project: Clustered Web Site Production and Development System Administration
Role: Systems Administrator

Administered, maintained, reconfigured Linux Virtual Server software that provides load balancing service for Apache web servers running on multiple Linux servers.
Installed and configured courier-imap SSL enabled IMAP server to provide secure mailbox access.
Installed and configured mon and logcheck software packages for continuous monitoring of the server cluster and network operation.
Administered and maintained postfix based mail server.
Set up ipchains based firewall protection for servers for development network as well as servers in the co-location facility.

Project: Community Internet Access Center
Role: Senior Systems Administrator

Set up OpenBSD based server to provide DNS , DHCP, NIS, NTP, FTP, and Windows and Roaming Profile services using Samba.
Created procedure to install Windows98 on donated Pentium based machines lacking CD-ROM drives.
Set up OpenBSD based firewall connected to a DSL line to provide secure access from the Internet for remote administration and technical support.
Wrote extensive articles documenting the use and administration of the entire Community Technology Information Center.

Project: Small Company Firewall and Mail Server Administration
Role: Senior Systems Administrator

Designed, maintained and monitored Linux based internet firewall machine which provides email, web , ftp, telnet , and secure shell services used by distributed development group.

Project: General Systems and Network Security Administration
Role: Senior Systems Administrator

Installed and maintained HP-UX and Digital UNIX operating systems on machines supporting the development of software product.
Provided general support the UNIX systems the Research and Development, Quality Management, and Customer Support groups.

Provided support for PVCS, the product used for revision control and configuration management.

Project: Java JSP/EJB Based Web Portal
Role: Senior Systems Administrator

Installed and configured firewall/gateway machines running OpenBSD that make up a distributed network.
Built, installed, and configured Linux workstations for developers and client web/database server.
Installed and configured OpenSSH and the CVS version control system for development environment.
Installed and configured the Oracle database server, the Apache web server, TomCat java servlet engine, and jBoss in support of a web portal development project.

Project: Product Package Installation and Startup
Role: Software Developer

Designed and implemented the installation/upgrade/update procedure for the UNIX server component of Sybase based software product.
Redesigned and rewrote startup procedure for database servers.
Designed and implemented the procedure for packaging the product's release system.

Publications

Slamming Spam: A Guide for System Administrators
by Robert Haskins and Dale Nielsen
Addison Wesley Publishing Company December 2004

Upgrading Linux over the Internet
by Dale Nielsen and Daniel Dee
Linux Journal May 1999


Education

University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts
Bachelor of Science, cum laude
Major: Computer Science, Minor: Mathematics